
Qass. 
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ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 



C 






A SERMON 



PREACHED ON THE MORNING OF EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 16th, 1865, 



IN ST. JAMES CHURCH, BRISTOL, PA., 



BY THE REV. JOHN H. DRUMM. M D 



RECTOR OF THE PARISH. / y 



^Tcfe^ 



'^OfWASHlH<«5> 



WM. BA.CHK, I»«.IN'rKR., 

B R I .S T L . 



Bristol, Pa , A.piul 20, \Mh 

Rkv'd and dear Sir: 

In behalf of tho Vostrj- and congregation of your Church, 1 
have the honor to request a copy, for publication, of your sernum 
delivered on the 16th instant, in reference to the Jissassi nation of 
our lute President, Abraham Lincoln, whose untimely and cruel 
death is now so deeply lamented by all loyal and true-hearted 
Americans. 

Truly your very obed't serv't, 

W. R. MONTOOM3RY. 
Rkv. J. H. Drumm, 

Rector of St. Janms' Church, Bristol. 



Parsonagk. BuiSTOL, April "2!, 1865 

My dkar vSib : 

It affords nic great pleasure to comply with tho request you 
make in behalf of the Yestry and congregation of St. James, al- 
though I am well aware that the discourse you a.sk for possesses no 
.special merit. It was written in great haste, at a late hour on tlie 
night before its delivery, ami while I wus yet suffering from the 
shock produced by the sad intelligence. Hut u.-* it wii-s the lirat 
address our people had hoard on the all-engrossing topic, and as it 
seemed to express the common feeling, they naturally enough judged 
of it more highly than it deserved. 

The nianuscript accompanies this note. 

Believe me, dear Sir, very sincerely yourri, 

JOHN If DKTfMM 
To Uknkral Montoomkrv. 



MURDER OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



A SeRMOX PRTTACnED ON THK MnRMNO OF EaSTEU SuXD-VY, APRII, IGl H. 

I860, IN St. James' Church, Bristol, Pa., by the Kectok. Ri;v. 
John H. Drumm, M. D. 



2rf Samuel-, Hi : 38. "Know ye not that there is a prince, and a great man, fallen thi* 
day in Israel '." 

When we last met for moniins: worsliip in thiss Chnrcli, 
it was to commemorate the murder of tlie Jjord Jesiir* 
Christ — it was to contemplate the sad scenes at Getli- 
semane and Golgotha — and to grieve over the sufferinas 
of Him who there bore the burden of our sins and died 
for our salvation. But we hoped soon to have more joy- 
ous themes for meditation and discourse. We expected 
that on this day, as usual, we should emerge from the 
gloom and sorrow of the 'Passion-week,' and rejoice in 
the fact and the lessons of the Saviour's resurrection. — 
These hopes have all been disappointed. 

Even during the season of Lent we liad ample cause 
for satisfaction and public thanksgiving. The kind 
hand of our merciful God had been over us for good. 
Cities and strongholds hitherto held by the rebels had 
been wrung from them, and the armies that for four years 
had been their boast and the sole strength of their cause, 
had been defeated in many encounters, and scattered to 
the winds. The so-called "cradle of rebellion" had 
received our soldiery, and over the ruins of its ever 
memorable Fort the once insulted tiuir was raised to its 



6 THE ASSASSINATION OF 

old place of pride. Richmond, the very heart and centre 
of the military despotism which called itself "the govern- 
ment" of the revolted States, had also tallen into our 
hands. The chief conspirators themselves were ignomi- 
niously hiding from the power they had dared — they were 
seeking a temporary shelter in some obscure place farther 
south. In that city which they had called their " Capital," 
and where they had gathered all their strength, the Chief 
Magistrate of the United States had been welcomed as a 
deliverer ! In the very building from which the always 
false and boastful messages and manifestos of the rebel 
leader had been issued, he had received visits of respect 
and congratulation, and had spoken, (as was his wont,) 
words of tenderness and hope. There w^as much, then, 
for which it became us to rejoice ; much for which we 
should have sung Te Deums and offered hearty thanks- 
givings to our Almighty Helper. But we were unwilling 
to break the stillness of the solemn day of the Cross, with 
the clangor of joy bells or the roar of cannon. The causes 
for rejoicing were great enough to prevent the feeling 
from evaporating, so our public celebration was deferred 
until this Sunday should be past. Even in it we expected 
to indulge in every manifestation of gladness that would 
not be inconsistent with its sanctity. Praise and thanks- 
giving were to have been ottered up here, not only for the 
glorious triumph gained as at this time by Christ over the 
powers of hell and the grave, but also for that which He 
had granted to us over our unnatural enemies, and for the 
prospect of a speedy, a safe and an honorable peace. This 
Sabbath was to have been a high day; we trusted that no 
cloud w^ould dim the brightness of its sun ; we believed 
that no cause of gloom would mar our Easter joy. 

Alas ! alas ! how different is the fact. I see before me 
no happy, beaming faces. I see no tokens of a people's 
joy. There indeed stands ready the table of our Lord, 
furnished with the most precious banquet ever provided 



P R E S I D E N T L I N C I- N . 7 

for the use of man; and on tliat tal»lo of blessini:; no 
earthly events ought ever to cast a shadow. It is always 
a ghidsome sight — it speaks only of welcome and of com- 
fort. But it has nothing to do with temporal triumphs; 
it is not an exponent of popular feeling — but of Christian 
faith and gratitude. And it is in no wise different to-day 
from what it is on other occasions of Holy Commu- 
nion. So that there there is no special indication of re- 
joicing; there is nothing betokening even the importance 
attached to this season. In tiiis Church there would not 
be a single thing free from the shade of melancholy were 
it not that, to prevent our wholly forgetting what day 
it is — to prevent our having all comfort crushed out of 
our hearts — I have suffered flowers to be placed here to 
preach to you of the Resurrection — to say, "God restores 
that which he takes away; — God is ever mindful of his 
people!" A!id while those pure and lovely blossoms, 
born from the clay so lately cold and bare beneath the 
wintry blast, tell us of life from death, we have these sad 
trappings and weeds of woe reminding us that death will 
come in the very midst of life. 

Our Christian sanctuaries would not be draped in such 
a manner, especially at such a time as this, for an ordinary 
victim of the great destroyer. These hangings, then, do 
not testify to anj- slight or merely local loss. They indi- 
cate our full participation in that great sorrow which to- 
day swells the heart of over twenty millions of ]»eo]»le. — 
They tell that a prince and a great man hath fallen in 
our Israel. 

Ahraham Lfncoln is dead I The wise, the patient, the 
good man, whom the Lord raised up to guide our "shi{) 
of State" through the shoals and whirlpools upon which 
the ruthless hands of rebels drove her, is no more ! Never 
again shall his genial words and generous acts give com- 
fort to the sorrowing, or hope to the faint-hearted. Never 
ajrain shall his earnest utterances win us from the rash 



8 THE ASSASSINATION OF 

conclusions of prejudice or excitement to those becoming 
men who have at once great interests to defend and con- 
sciences to keep. He who for four long years has borne 
the grievous load of a nation's cares in its time of greatest 
peril — who never spared himself in its service — and who 
rejoiced only when he felt that it could rejoice with him, 
will never more thrill our hearts with announcements of 
victory, or in our name oft'er thanks to those who, under 
God, have been the means of gaining it. We shall never 
read his name again save in the page of history, or in the 
eulogies of a grateful people. The well known form and 
face of the Great Commoner will never more he seen in 
street, or cabinet, or camp. 

This of itself, my brethren, would be a cause of deep 
grief to every loyal and honest heart. Kot merely to 
those who agreed with him in opinion, but to all who are 
not base and worthless: for however much in the heat of 
party strife men may have opposed and ridiculed Abraham 
Lincohi, it was impossible for any one with human feel- 
ings and conscience not to respect and admire the man 
who in these days of corruption and falsity could keep 
his integrity — who could be so uniformly fair and kind 
to all, and who was so happily endowed that in him the 
prudence and sagacity of a statesman were united to the 
fuilelessness of a child. If, then, he had died the common 
death of all men — if disease had carried him oti' in peace, 
aftbrding him time to bequeath some parting counsels to 
ug — to take his leave of those he loved — or even to com- 
pose his thoughts and breathe a prayer before he entered 
the eternal world, — it would have been a bereavement so 
sad that our sorrow would have at least equalled that 
which any nation ever felt for the loss of a ruler that 
it loved. So deeply had this pure, large-hearted man 
stamped the impress of his own nature upon this people — 
so completely was he identified with the honor and the 
interests of the country — so thoroughly had he earned 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 9 

onr love, — that his removal even by a peaceful Christian 
death would have occasioned such lamentation as has not 
been known here since the grave opened to receive our 
Washington. Where then can we lind a parallel for the 
sorrow that throbs in the bosoms of all true Americans, 
and all lovers of America and friends of freedom, this 
day? Who can describe the indignation that mingles 
with the bitterness of our grief? The tears of a whole 
people are flowing freely for Abraham Lincoln ; but while 
they gush out, hands are clenched and lips compressed in 
stern resolve — for he icas most foully murdered! 

Having nothing of the oppressor's spirit, he had no 
fear of the tyrant's fate. He always trusted himself free- 
ly, and without suspicion, among his fellow-citizens. He 
never condescended to take steps for self-preservation. 
He did not resort even to the ordinary precautions which 
prudence would suggest. No guard stood near to pro- 
tect him from the intrusion of the curious, or to defend 
him from the stroke of the assassin. Too confident in 
the goodness of other men, he was always at the mercy 
of any bold or crafty villain. Like Abner, he died "as 
a fool dieth." — His hands were not bound, nor his feet 
put in fetters, but as a man fallcth befoi-e wicked men, 
so fell he! 

Were it not, then, for the cruel fate that thus befell him, 
our grief had been far less. Although in honor to the high 
oflice that he held, onr Church would have ap]^eared in 
this mournful drapery, and my own heart would have 
sorrowed deeply for his death, yet you should not have 
heard his name from ni}- lips in this place, had he not 
fallen thus through treachery — had he not been cruelly 
slain for his tidelity to the oaths he had taken and the 
country that he loved. JJut why should I refrain when 
in such a manner a prince and a great man hath fallen in 
our Israel? 

Were he ovh/ "a great man," oi" prominent puljlic ser- 



10 THE ASSASSINATION OF 

vant, the nation tliat lias recently mourned losses like 
those of a Douglass, a Dallas, or an Everett, would have 
borne his also without such marked and universal sorrow 
as this day witnesses. Were he only such a man, how- 
ever noble in mind or character, the press might speak of 
him, but the pulpit would be silent. In this one, at least, 
which has never been desecrated by what is called "poli- 
tical preaching," by any display of party feeling, or 
harangues upon passing events, there would have been 
no mention of his name. But he was more than a great 
man : he was our prince ; — not by the accident of birth, 
not by any claim of inheritance, not by usurpation, but 
by our own free and deliberate choice! He was the 
elected ruler of this nation, the centre of its hopes, the 
representative of its majesty, and yet he was slain among 
us. Oh, surely then, if under such circumstances we 
were to hold our peace, the very stones would cry out. 

Abel fell a victim to his brother's hate, on account of 
his excellence and the favor God had shown him, and for 
the same reason some reprobate successor of Cain, some 
foe to America and mankind, assassinated Mr. Lincoln. 
As the wretch could not destroy the nation, he did destroy 
its head; and when the cowardly shot was fired, and the 
unsuspecting patriot fell back in his blood, the malice and 
madness of rebellion had culminated — treason found a 
victim — and liberty a martyr! 

"Proud, proud be his name in his country's story ; 
He fell not in battle, yet died for her glory! — 
Then weep for the loss of the mighty departed. 
But cherish the fame of the good and true-hearted. 
In victory calm — in danger undaunted, — 
His was the soul that America wanted: 
Bright, then, o'er his tomb, as her tearful eye flashes, 
Be his name in her heart, in her bosom his ashes !" 

Brethren, our country has now witnessed the greatest 
crime of modern ages, and suft'ered the greatest loss that 



PRESIDE NTLIX COL X. 11 

ever the Most High permitted to befall a nation in its 
time of need and perplexity. Such a crime should never 
be forgotten; such a calamity should never l>e wasted. 
Let the terrible fact, and all connected with it, burn into 
our heart and mind, and teach us their solemn lesson. 
Let us cherish the dreadful memory of these days, and 
fear ever to lose the feelings that now possess us; for if 
■we ever prove iiiiiniiidful of the good ruler wo have lost, 
we shall never deserve another. Farewell to honor and 
to fame, if we ever come to regard with indifference the 
noble character and life of Abraham Lincoln, or to tliiidv 
unmoved of the dastardl}' act by which he was taken 
away in the midst of his days. 

That act was not committed by a man. A being of 
true human constitution could never thus have singled 
out as a victim one who was beyond reproach, and who 
never injured him or his: one who occupied the highest 
office in the State, and in a season of great difficulty and 
danger was discharging its duties in a spirit of equity and 
gentleness. No man conld have stolen behind him in 
the hour of relaxation, and in the presence of his wife 
and friends, shot him like a dog! Tell me not that the 
doer of this deed had the form and semblance of a human 
being. — These he might have ; but surely nothing more. 
If ever he possessed a heart, it had long since [»erished 
out of him. If ever he had a conscience, it liad been 
utterly cast away, or seared not merely as with a hot iron, 
l)ut with the lire of hell. He was simply the emissary of 
the devil. Another such demon in human shape was at 
the same time doing his best to cut the throat of a Acne- 
rable man, even in his sick bed, around which his children 
were tenderly watching. Neither age, nor helplessness, 
nor lilial devotion, could restrain him. — lie almost mur- 
dered two sons who rushed unarmed to defend their father. 
But these are not the only samples of the demon brood 
we liave had of late. Others havinii; violated a tlaii- of 



12 THE ASSASSINATION OP 

truce sent in only that by means of it they might put 
their opponents ofl" their guard, and so gain advantage, 
when tlieir foul scheme had succeeded, shot down in cold 
blood the soldiers who surrendered to them, at Plymouth 
and Fort Pillow. And others, serving in the same bad 
cause, ruthlessly tortured and murdered our poor prisoners 
in Belle Isle, Andersonville and the Libby. Numberless 
and indescribable have been the crimes performed by 
them: So gross and so many have they been, that long 
ago the public learned to regard them in their true light, 
as wehr-wolves or fiends incarnate, and required that any 
of them or their abettors that fell into our hands should 
be treated in accordance with their own usages. Retalia- 
tion was demanded; — it was promised, but never em- 
ployed. Why? Because some one who had the power 
to aflect the policy of the country said — " Let it not be 
resorted to; they indeed deserve all possible severity, but 
why should we harden our hearts and bring this sin upon 
our souls because they do it?" One man thus stood 
against the expressed will of the whole public, and held 
back the hand that would have exacted " an eye for an 
eye, and a tooth for a tooth," — and that was the very man 
for whom they 'prepared the pistol and the dagger ! 

Shall we regret now that he did not strike terror to 
their hearts, by authorizing retribution ? — Shall we i-egrot 
that he was not more like other men — that he did not 
sanction what all desired ? JS'o ! So far as he is con- 
cerned, it is better that not even the shadow of a reproach 
should rest upon his tairfame; better far is it that no 
man, woman, or child, can ever point to the grave of the 
slauglitered President and say — "there lies one who 
treated me with injustice, or with cruelty!" In spite of 
every influence, he clung to his own purpose, and so took 
with him to the tomb a character such as few, if any, 
among rulers or public men, have been able to sus- 
tain. So noble, so spotless is it, that I hesitate not to 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. IS 

say that, uext to George Washington, his will be the 
purest and noblest record in tlie annals of this land; and 
I question whether any other name in all the range of 
profane history will take precedence of his. 

Behold, then, brethren, the value of goodness! see the 
excellence of moral power! This it was that gave to the 
illustrious man we now mourn his position and his influ- 
ence. In intellect, though a strong man, President Lin- 
coln was not remarkable. His ability alone would never 
have gained for him the confidence and love of the peo- 
ple. Ilis death is a most terrible calamity, not because 
men of equal mind cannot be found to take his place and 
carry on his work, (for doubtless there are scores of per- 
sons who are his peers in this particular,) but because he 
was good as well as able ; because integrity and kindness 
of feeling ruled all his actions. His greatness lay in this 
union of strength and gentleness. This it was that fitted 
him so preeminently to play his part during these j-ears 
of difficulty. In our counsels we needed heart as well as 
brain, and judgment as well as genius. Our haste and 
coldness required to be checked by some strong, calm, 
prudent spirit; the licrceness of our indignation reciuired 
some admixture of forbearance and charity. And be- 
cause he supplied what w^as thus deficient, and guided us 
in the better way by his rule and his example, he was 
invaluable to us. To the patience and kindness of his 
nature, to his hopeful and courageous heart, and to the 
unswerving fidelity with which he adhered to principle 
and performed what he believed to be his duty, we owe 
the present prosperous condition of our affairs. 

The one thing that marred the proportion and com- 
pleteness of his moral constitution was a lack of sternness. 
Ilis clemency was the characteristic for which in time to 
come men will admire him most; it was that which pre- 
served us from debasing ourselves by imitating the cruel 
policy of our traitorous enemies, and that which should 



14 THE ASSASSINATION OF 

certain!}^ have given him a chiim npon their respect and 
gratitude, if indeed they were capable of entertaining any 
such feelings. He was too kind to be severe. And 
thougli for his sake (and even for our own) we would not 
now wish that he had been diiferent, yet we confess to 
having often felt that in his regard to mercy he was not 
sufficiently mindful of justice. But doubtless for the time 
past that which he chose, either instinctively or by design, 
was the best and wisest course. And possibly for the 
future, a somewhat bolder policy will be best — one at 
least under which gross and obstinate offenders will be 
promptly dealt with; and this may be the reason why 
God hath permitted him to perish. 

Inscrutable indeed are the Avays of Providence — and 
this dispensation is specially mysterious; — yet, ))rethren, 
we have consolation in tlie thought, that the Lori) God 
omnipetent reigneth — that He will give triumph to truth 
and right, and that though lie may remove the agents ive 
think most necessary. His work will never stop until all 
His wise and merciful purposes have been accomplished. 
A skilful diplomatist who had extensive experience of 
public affairs in troublous times, once said, "jSTo man is 
necessary to the State." If it seemed so to a godless 
statesman, from his reading of history and observation of 
contemporary events, should it not seem so to us who 
know that there is a God judging right: one who directs 
or overrules all things in accordance with His own most 
holy will. This consideration teaches us that not even 
President Lincoln was necessary to us now. God gave 
him to us when our need was greatest; and now that he 
has been permitted to fall, we may feel assured that his 
mission was fuliilled. 

And was it not a wondrous work that ho undertook — 
a work gigantic in its extent, bewildering in the number 
and intricacy of the questions it raised and the interests 
it involved, and grand .in the end that seemed attainable? 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 16 

And this work has been done! — much of it so eoinpU'tcIy 
finished, that we are astonished as we reflect upon the 
changes we have witnessed : and all of it so noail v })er- 
fected that we see liglit in ever}^ part of tlie political 
horizon; and that not a fitful gleam, but the steadily in- 
creasing light of dawn, that will usher in the welcome 
day of peace and prosperity again. The United States of 
1865 are not merely four years, but a century, in advance 
of their position in 1861. And this we owe, under God, 
to the wisdom, the goodness, and the courage of the nuiu 
we mourn to-day. 

To achieve this grand result the country has freely 
poured forth its blood and treasure; but let us not forget 
that we might have had all the outlay without any of the 
gain — without even a particle of progress. If our way to 
peace lay through defeat or compromise, the cost would 
have been none the less ; and then every red drop that 
stained the soil, and every pang endured, and every dollar 
spent, in this mighty struggle, would liave been cast away 
for naught. But it is not so now. Terrible as the price 
has been, the country has paid it freely for the sake of the 
end. Treasure and life have been laid on the altar of 
freedom without stint; and now at the close has come 
the greatest sacrifice of all. But even it is not wasted! 
The life of the State is worth more than that of any indi- 
vidual, and he who falls in its service does not die in vain. 

Neither the life nor the death of Abraham Lincoln has 
been wasted. lie has done great things for America and 
mankind; he has performed services the importance and 
magnitude of which we are yet too near to comprehend; 
lie has been the instrument by which a mightier work has 
been accomplished than we believe can ever again fall to 
the lot of man. He had received the highest honor tliis 
Republic could bestow; and earth could give no higher. 
He had received it twice — because having been tried, he 
•was found faithful. He had infused into the management 



16 THE ASSASSINATION OF 

of our public affairs and the language of official docu- 
ments a more constant and devout acknowledgment of 
God than any of his predecessors; he had shown to our 
public men an example of magnanimity and propriety, 
of honesty that could not be shaken, of simple greatness 
that prosperity could not spoil. He had gained the affec- 
tion and gratitude of his fellow-countrymen, and the 
respect of the best men everywhere. By the constrain- 
ing power of goodness he was fast winning over such of 
our enemies as were worth the winning — and even the}' 
must feel that they have committed a blunder as well as 
a crime — for in our murdered President they have lost 
their best friend. Over his coffin the tears of a wliole 
people will flow unchecked, and many a one to-day tliink- 
ina: of his w^orth and of the villanous act bv which he was 
so cruelly cut off, will say, " Oh that our desires could 
restore, or our loving thoughts could help him ! oh that it 
were not too late to pray for his peace and welfare I oh 
that from our full hearts we still might say — God bless 
him !" Ah brethren, the man whom a nation has thus 
honored, and over whom it thus weeps, has not lived nor 
died in vain. 

" 'Twere sweet unto the grave to go, 
If one were sure to be buried so!" 

On the first Good Friday the dying Saviour of mankind 
prayed for his very murderers, saying, " Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do!" — and that our 
murdered President had imbibed some of the same mer- 
ciful spirit, we are well assured. We learn from the best 
authority, that at the last consultation he held with the 
Lieutenant-General commanding our armies, Mr. Lincoln 
spoke in the kindest and most considerate manner of the 
rebel general, Lee, and some of his associates, and avowed 
his intention to afford to the misguided and coerced peo- 
ple of the south every possible facility for returning to 



P R E S I n E N T L r N c r L N . 17 

their allegiance, in peace. And even wliile sudi a ]»ur- 
pose was being avowed, the blood-thirsty traitor was pre- 
paring the weapons to take away his life I 

And does it not throw a certain nij-sterious sok'ninity 
over his martyrdom, to think that it took place on the 
anniversary of the death of Christ? We shrink from 
even appearing to institute any parallel; but the day can- 
not be altered now, and men will naturally think of the 
two unequalled crimes by Avhich it has been distinguished. 
Christians in this land will henceforth regard the solemn 
fast as possessing additional cause for humiliation and 
sorrow; while those who are not Christians will long 
remember the Good Friday of 1865, as the blackest day 
in all our history. 

How deep is the disgrace (I had almost said the curse), 
that must rest upon the land where such a deed could be 
perpetrated! What sinks of vice must it contain ; what 
hardening systems it must tolerate; what contempt for 
law, for right, for honor or for life, must there be where 
such a crime could be deliberately planned — and then 
without shame carried out according to the programme, 
and that in the face of thousands I We had supposed 
such things were done now only among half civilized 
races. We had supposed that the murder of rulers, com- 
mon enough in the old heathen empires and the dark 
ages, would never be known again. We believed, at 
least, that it never would be known here. But it would 
seem as if the vices of decaying nations are flourishing in 
the very youth of this. Contempt of parental and other 
authority, which is the sure precursor of lawlessness and 
open crime, is far too common. The unbridled will, the 
intemperance, the strange tiger-like combination of fero- 
cious natures with smooth exterior or gentle habits, and 
the equally strange mixture of recklessness with unmanly 
cowardice which were found in the Neros, the Caligulas, 
and the Cataiines, of former times, and in the Nena Sahibs 



18 THE ASSASSINATION OF 

of the present, are found here even in this hxnd — and to- 
day we weep for the evil they have wrought. 

Brethren, will not God visit for these things? — will he 
not take vengeance upon a nation which tolerates such 
characters or the practices that form them? Let us hum- 
ble ourselves under His hand; — let us ask Him to correct 
whatever is amiss; and let us strive, under His blessing, 
to improve our ways, especially to cast out this spirit of 
self-will and lawless violence. Let us for all our sins seek 
the pardon of our Heavenly jr^ither, and try for the time 
to come to walk in righteousness and peace as becometh 
those who are named by the name of Christ. 

And hard as it is to repress the fierceness of our anger, 
when such an atrocity is committed upon one whose ex- 
alted position and character as the representative of this 
great Republic, and whose personal merit ijhould have 
protected him from the hands of even the most callous 
criminals, yet let us not forget that vengeance is not jus- 
tice. The latter we maj most earnestly desire; but the 
the former we can nef ei^wtsh or contemplate without sin. 
We certainly ought not now to persist in the course of 
leniency which has been ^§0 ter^bly abused; but it were 
a thousand fold better to err" on this side than on the 
other. " Man most resembles God when mercy tempers 
justice." 

To the two assassins and their immediate accomplices 
no pity can be shown, without rendering the repetition of 
such offences likely. — To show pity to them would be 
cruelty to all others. — It would be a gross wrong to spare 
wretches who thus trample upon forbearance, and violate 
every law both sacred and profane. But let us be careful 
how far we carry our judgment, and with what spirit we 
press it. Let us not take it for granted that the rebel 
chiefs are implicated in the dreadful crime. — We should 
rather hope that, base and guilty as they are, they them- 
selves will condemn it. Let us regard it as the work of 



PR SID KNT LINCOLN. 1^ 

still viltM- porsoius carrying out their prinoiples, rather than 
of agents directly employed or sanctioned by them. At all 
events, let us condemn no one without the clearest proof. 
Let us he willing to give to all who are supposed to he 
implicated the henetit of every doubt: so that the disgrace 
and punishment of this horrible sin may never be laid 
upon an innocent person. Let us think how he who Vias 
fallen would have judged and acted; or, better still, let 
us remember that the Lord Jesus Christ directed the first 
otter of salvation to be made to those very men who put 
Ilim to death. Here to-day, at His own board, He pre- 
sents to us the pledges of His pardon and favor, though 
we have rebelled against Him, and our sins caused His 
murder. As we draw near, then, to His table, let us try 
to chasten our feelings, and to dismiss all malice, hatred 
and uucharitableness, as inconsistent with our profession, 
and with the mind that was in Christ Jesus. And let ua 
pray that God will now undertake for us and bless the 
country He has thus bereaved — that He will give wisdom 
and grace to him who is now our ruler, and to all his ad- 
visers — that He will endow our whole people with patience 
and firmness — and that He will cause discord and blood- 
shed to cease in our borders, and establish us once more 
as a nation, one and indivisible in affection and loyalty, 
as well as in constitution. 

And if the assassination of Mr. Lincoln shall tend to 
this result — if it shall disgust such of the disaffected in 
the south as are not wholly given over to iniquity — if it 
shall unite all northern citizens in one common purpose, 
and in the blessed bond of brotherhood — if it can shame 
the uncharitable spirit and the scurrilous tongue of the 
partizan, — then so sweet will be the fruit of this bitter 
blossom, that all men will recognize the wisdom of God 
in permitting Satan thus to injure his own cause. The 
blood of the martyrs has ever proved to be the seed of 
the Church: So, we trust and pray that the blood now 



20 THE ASSASSINATION OF 

spilled for this country, may be the seed for a glorious 
harvest of free, honorable, upright. God-fearing men, like 
him we mourn to-day. 

And oh, may God comfort the widow in her sore afflic- 
tion, and prove indeed a Father to the fatherless. May 
He give them the hearts of the people, so that the tribute 
of our grateful love may lessen their burden of sorrow 
and of care. May lie support them with the consolations 
of the gospel of Christ, and fit them for meeting again, 
in a better and eternal home, with him whom they have 
loved and lost. 

And may He teach us so to number our days, that we 
may apply our hearts unto wisdom. May He incite us to 
a noble use of life. May He teach us to be upright and 
faithful. May He enable us so to serve our generation, 
that mankind shall be benefitted by our work, and shall 
bewail our loss. Above all, may He prepare us for the 
great change that is inevitable and which may come upon 
us at any moment. May He enable us so to serve Him, 
that we shall always have the sense of His presence and 
fiivor, and thus be ready to meet the awful summons, 
even though it should come when least expected, as it 
did upon the prince and the great man that hath fallen 
amons: usl 



sr*^ 



PRESIDENT LI X COL X. 21 



PRAYER. 

Oh most mighty GOD, terrible in thy jiiclgmont* and wonderful in' 
thy doings toward the children of men, who in thy wise providence didst 
suffer the life of thy servant the lato Chief Magistrate of this Nation to- 
be taken away by the hands of a cruel and bloady assassin, we thj- sinful 
creatures do bow in resignation to thj- will, and humbly confess that the 
wickedness of this people did mo?t justly deserve thine anger. But, oh: 
Lord, after this thy judgment ujvm us, visit us not in wrath: Lay not 
the guilt of this innocent blood to our charge; let it not be required of 
us or of our posterity. Be merciful unto us, oh Lord, l)e merciful unto 
thy people whom thou bast redeemed, and be not angry with us forever; 
but pardon and bless us, as thou hast done in the past, and cause us tc 
walk before thee in righteousness and truth,, for thy mercy's sake^ 
through Jksus Christ our Lord. A)/ien. 



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